6 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 



and great tracts of this country, but I have had also a privilege that I 

 value even more highly, that of making the acquaintance of many of 

 Canada's citizens and of being able to ascertain their angle and their 

 point of view. 



While my mind has been greatly impressed by the growth and 

 development of the country s industries and resources in agriculture, 

 mining, forests, water power, etc., one is still more impressed by the 

 opportunities that exist. You have only to travel the country to know 

 these opportunities and when one sees the strides which have been made 

 in so short a time he cannot but wonder what the possibilities are for 

 the future. 



In my office at Ottawa hangs the 35 mile to the inch Railway Map 

 of Canada, issued by the Department of the Interior, with which you are 

 probably all familiar. It bears the date 1920 and is, therefore, pre- 

 sumably more or less up to date. (Laughter.) But it so happened only 

 a very few days ago that the Prime Minister came to see me. He found 

 me, as I am very often to be found, standing upon a chair looking at that 

 map. It was a model of perfection but he said it was already completely 

 out of date. He added: "We have sent men right up to some place in 

 the north, and you want a map double that size to get up to where that 

 outpost has gone for the purpose of investigation and discovery." 

 (Laughter.) 



Another thought always strikes me when I regard that map. We 

 hear a great deal about railways in this country, yet if you take that 

 map — for it is a railway map after all — and if you look carefully at the 

 area covered by railway lines, you cannot but be struck by the relatively 

 extremely small portion which is served by any railway at all. Yet we 

 have every reason to believe that those vast regions stretching away, 

 even beyond the Arctic Circle, possess potentialities of the highest value. 

 We confidently talk about the development of our resources and yet I 

 am bound to say that we fall off somewhat when we attempt to define 

 how they should be developed on business and scientific lines. 



I know you will pardon me if I venture to allude to another feature 

 which has struck me during my tenure of office, a far from pleasant one 

 I admit. This is the appalling wastage which one sees going on all 

 around in Canada to-day, whether in agriculture, in farm culture, in 

 forestry, in fishing or in mining we are losing what ought to be extremely 

 valuable products. I shall mention one instance only. 



There is, perhaps, nothing which strikes any one coming from the 

 Old Country and going through the Prairie Provinces more than to see 

 the straw being absolutely and deliberately burned. I know that within 

 the last two or three years efforts have been made to prevent this and 



